


The Wretched and Divine

by blondyfel



Category: Greek and Roman Mythology
Genre: Artemis is very gay, Hades is a teacher, Multi, Persephone is a student, Probably some band members of various bands will appear, Slightly slow burn, Student/Teacher AU, but incredibly clumsy, cerberus is a nice dog, demeter is very fucking annoying, hades is very nice, set in college, so NO underage
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-25
Updated: 2018-07-29
Packaged: 2018-09-26 22:26:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9925025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blondyfel/pseuds/blondyfel
Summary: Hades is an anatomy teacher in LA med school, while also being at the head of the hospital morgue. Even though he wears almost exclusively black and is known for talking to corpses, he is not a scary dude at all. He is very friendly and likes people, although he is a bit clumsy around them since he doesn’t spend that much time around them. Pretty much every student in his classes are in love with him.Persephone is trying her best to behave like her mother wants but she finds this all “let’s be perfect” thing incredibly boring. She wants to go on crazy adventures in the middle of the night, get black-out drunk, have fun, and never apologize for it. But instead she is taking herbology lesson just like her mother wants. But she also sneaks in all of the anatomy lessons and biology ones whenever she can, so she can do something that actually makes her happy, cutting people and animals open.One days Hades notices her, how good she is with a scalpel, and, even if he is a bit creeped out by her, he offers her an internship at the morgue. She says yes, only interested by the fact that she’ll know have unlimited access to dead bodies.





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! So this is something I wanted to do for a while! I'm having a lot of fun writting it and I hope you'll have fun reading it too! 
> 
> As I said in the tags I will most likely incorporate a few bands I love to the story but they will only be secondary characters so don't worry about it! :)

Persephone hit her alarm. The annoying buzzing stopped. She groaned and turned to look at the time. “Shit!!”, she was late, she had snoozed one too many times. She got up quickly, ran to the bathroom, showered in a record time, dressed with the first things she could grab in in her closet and sprinted towards the door. But this was without counting on her mother. Demeter stood in the entrance to the kitchen, an accusing look on her face, “How are you supposed to get through a day of classes if you haven’t eaten anything?”, she arched a perfect eyebrow at her daughter and shoved a few cereals bars in her hands. “Now, eat those on your way, it’s not perfect, but still better than nothing!”

“Mother! I’ll eat on campus, I’ll grab coffee on my way to classes, this is very unnecessary…”

“On campus? Coffee? Have you lost your mind? I really hope you are not eating the awful food they’re selling you there! How many times must I tell you, you cannot expect to have good grades or a good life if you don’t treat your body carefully! And eating on campus is not treating your body carefully!” Demeter’s tone was cold and very professional. Persephone knew this speech by heart, having a famous nutritionist for a mother wasn’t always easy on a daily basis… “Next you’re going tell me that you’re quitting sports! No, darling, don’t be ridiculous, eat those and you’ll do… Well, you’ll do the best can…” Demeter’s smile faltered slightly and Persephone couldn’t help but feel a tinge of shame.

She was not the daughter her mother would dream to have. For one, she had not been planned, and everything was planned in Demeter’s life. She was the result of one careless night. She had never known who her father was and she had spent her life trying to meet her mother’s expectation of greatness. Because of her pregnancy, Demeter had been forced to quit cheerleading, she was a multiple time national champion, she always blamed the end of her career on her daughter. After that she had become a self-proclaimed nutritionist, they had moved to Los Angeles and now she was coaching every star willing to be fat shamed at least three hours a day. Persephone never understood how anyone could pay to have her mother tell them that they were fat and that if they didn’t listen to her godly word they would fail everything they hoped to accomplish in their miserable life.

Persephone had been a straight A student her whole academic career, she had always been captain of the cheerleading teams of the schools she attended over the years. She had tried her best to be a carbon copy of her mother, she always did what was expected of her, she was polite and reserved, always ready to land a hand. But she was only playing a part. She hated the way her mother made her feel. She hated how everyone around her treated her like a plastic doll you could dress per your heart desire. She was sick of the way her mother looked at her with disappointment all the time. She had tried, really tried, and yet nothing was ever good enough. Her mother simply hated her because her daughter was young and beautiful when she was growing older and the men grew tired of her.

With a half polite smile, Persephone took the cereals bars and walked as fast as she could towards her car. Once she was safely inside she threw the bars in the back seat, were dozens of the same things were laying around. She got out of the driveway before turning her music on. The last she wanted was her mother to realize what kind of music she actually enjoyed. At home, she would always listen to bubbly sugary pop things, it was her mother idea of what a twenty something decent girl should listen to. But as soon as her mother was gone, or when she worked with earphones on she would just blast the loudest angriest music she could find. Lately she had been listening to a band called Black Veil Brides, a lot. The mere thoughts of her mother finding out about her music taste was enough to make her laugh the whole way to campus.

She was a junior in Herbology. Her mother had insisted she chose that as a major even if it puzzled Persephone and bore her to death. But she was on the sale campus as med students and had actually made a few friends there. Her best friend was probably Artemis. She was the same age than Persephone, she was studying to become a neurosurgeon. They had met at the cafeteria, Persephone was eating alone; like she usually did, her music very loud in her ears, and Artemis had just sat in front of her and asked her if she could finish her fries. For such a small girl Artemis sure ate a lot. But for some reason she still managed to be incredibly thin. Artemis often joked about it, saying that it was her incredible brain that burned all the calories she ingested.

They had quickly bonded over their shared love for unhealthy food and music. It was thanks to Artemis that Persephone was also attending the only class she ever had fun in, anatomy. She had come with Artemis while she had a free period, and she had been immediately fascinated by what she saw there. Most time they would dissect part of human corpse or animals. If, in the beginning she had stood at the back of the room, letting Artemis do the cutting she had grown bolder and she was now almost always in charge of the scalpel. Artemis had assured her that the teacher wouldn’t mind as long as she behaved. Persephone had smiled sadly, she was _very good_ at behaving…

The teacher was a young man, only a few years older than most the students in his class. His name was Hades. No one knew if it was his first-name or his last-name. Most students called him professor H. He was tall with dark hair and eyes almost black. Since he was also the director of the Hospital’s morgue he didn’t get lots of sunlight and was very pale. He was considered to be one of the most attractive teacher on campus, and many students had massive crush on him. Persephone really didn’t care. Yes, maybe she could see why some called him handsome but honestly, she was much more interested in the dead corpse on the table in front of her. She liked the fact that he never asked her what she was doing in his class. She was pretty sure she had no actual rights to be there, but he seemed very unbothered by her presence.

In today’s class, it would be the first they time would dissect an entire human body, Persephone was overly excited about it. Artemins had pointed out multiple times that it was sort of creepy how Persephone would get enthusiastic over dead bodies.  Persephone was aware of that, but she couldn’t help it. She just loved to see how all this worked. And it was much more fun than talking about plants and their virtues all day.

She hated herbology with a burning passion, she would skip most of her class but, since Demeter would probably kill her if she ever found out, she spends hours studying to catch up and was still in the top five of her year. She never really spoke to the other students so she was always treated like an outsider. This was worsened by the fact that she still got really good grades, there was even a rumour that she had slept with every teacher to pass all her exams. That made her laugh when she found out, then she actually considered doing it only to piss off her mother. But that would mean she would probably be shipped off somewhere not very pleasant, and far away from her friends and the anatomy classes. So, she had done nothing and had just ignored the whispers surrounding her every time she would come to class.


	2. Chapter Two

She was home alone, her mother was gone for a couple of days, some convention in Vegas or something. She hadn’t really payed attention to what her mother said, she just knew she’d have the house for herself. Times like these were so rare she was almost overwhelmed by all the possibilities that were offered to her. First, she could eat exactly what she wanted, without having her mother looking at her disappointedly and always suggesting a healthier alternative. Second, she could blast her music as loud as she wanted to and dance to it without a care in the world. The, there was always the possibility of throwing a huge party, but then she really didn’t felt like cleaning afterwards… But she could definitively go to one and come back home utterly drunk!

Tonight, she was supposed to meet up with Artemis and her twin brother Apollo. He was in law school yet always found time to go or organize parties. He also, by some miracle, the time to have a band and actually do concerts. How he successfully was able to balance everything was a great mystery to Persephone but she had stopped asking question, he would never answer them anyway. But tonight’s was supposed to be “the best night of her life”, or so he had promised.  He and his bands were performing in a club called _Inferno_ , it had just opened and was already one of the trendiest place in town.

She was getting ready and singing along to _Saturday Night_ by The Misfits. It was probably one of her favourite songs. Her make-up was almost done, she was hesitating between to shade of lipsticks, one of the other thing she could wear freely without her mother around, when Artemis called her.

“Open the freaking door! I’ve been knocking for ten minutes!!! What the fuck are you doing anyway?!?!?” Artemis shouted, apparently very annoyed.

“Calm down! I’m coming, I was just listening to some music while getting ready. I’ll be down in a sec!”

Persephone skipped down the corridor and the huge stairs, finally reached the door and opened it. On the other side was a seriously pissed off Artemis and a very amused Apollo.

“Hi! Oh, I didn’t know you were stopping by ‘Lo!” Persephone hushed them in and led them to her room.

“Yeah, well I dropped off this little ray of sunshine,” He pointed towards Artemis who was now sprawled on the bed, “And I figured I’d say hi! I won’t stay long though, I have to be there early to get ready with the rest of the guys.”

“Okay, well make yourself at home, I just need your opinion, which one of those two lipstick?” She handed him the two shades, Apollo always has great taste and every time she asked for his advice she knew he’d take the right decision. After a few seconds of hesitation, he gave her back the darker shade, “This one, it’ll bring out your eyes more” and he winked.

She laughed and took the lipstick, applying it carefully in her mirror. She then walked across her room to her walk-in closet, she’d always thought that she owned way too many clothes, but her mother constantly insisted that she’d wear the latest trends and would buy her dozens of clothes almost every week. But that was just a waste of money and space since Persephone always wore black skinny jeans and a selection of maybe twenty shirts, all in different nuances of black and grey. Her daughter’s love for black and dark colours had been a constant surprise for Demeter, who only wore light and pastel colours, the same way Persephone’s insistence on wearing pants, even in the middle of summer, had been the root of many heated arguments between the two. But Persephone only really felt comfortable in jeans, and for her skirts were just highly impracticable, of course she’d still wear dresses and skirts to special events her mother would drag her to, to make good figure. But for school she insisted on wearing black jeans.

For tonight she decided on jeans ripped at the knees, so skinny they seemed almost paint on her, and a black crop-top that showed her lacy burgundy bra. She looked at herself in the mirror and smiles, yes this was going to be a good night.

When she emerged from her closet Apollo was lying next to his sister on the bed, arguing with her in hushed tones. “Just talk to her? Please?”, when he realized she was back in the room Apollo stood up and kissed her on the cheek, “Got to go princess, she you girls there!” he waved to his sister and exited the room.

Persephone turned towards Artemis a questioning look on her face, “Talk to who about what?” Artemis looked down, something was clearly embarrassing her but Persephone couldn’t tell what it was. “Hey, what’s going on?” her voice was soft, she sat on the bed next to her best-friend, “You know you can tell me everything, right?” She smiled gently at Artemis and patiently waited for an answer.

“You look very good tonight…”

“Haha, thank you, but I doubt this is what’s going on with you!” Persephone laugh was light and kind.

“Yeah… don’t really blame me for trying to change the subject…”

“C’mon! Just tell me, I’m sure it’s nothing!”

“Maybe… So, you know, I’ve been dating this guy…”

“Acteon the perv, yeah I know…’

“Anyway, we got into an argument yesterday and it got pretty violent and I really thought he would like hurt me… And he didn’t and we broke up but I got really scared and… And I don’t know it really messed me up I guess…” Artemis’ voice was only just above a whisper when she stopped talking. She was looking at her hand, her head hunched in shame, tears rolling down her cheeks.

“HE DID WHAT?!?!?” Persephone stood up and screamed, utterly outraged, “That fucking bastard! I’m gonna kill him! No, I’m going to torture to him for a very long time, god knows I’m good with sharp objects, and then he’ll die a pitiful meaningless death, just like his miserable life!”

At that Artemis laughed slightly, bringing her head up, “Well, at least I know why you’re my best friend. But please don’t kill him, I just never want to see him again…”

Okay, whatever you want. But if I see him he better run for his life!” Persephone winked at her friend, sat down back on the bed and hugged her, “It’s really fucked up though… Don’t let anyone do that to you ever again… And if you feel threaten or unsafe just call me, okay?’ She brushed some hair back behind Artemis’ ear.

“I swear… But can we not talk about it? Tonight is supposed to be fun, and I sort of want to get drunk and have fun, and not think about it?” Artemis smiled shyly.

“Of course, tonight is your night! And I promise we’ll have fun!” Persephone hugged her one last time and got up, “Will you do my hair first? You’re so amazing at it!”

“Haha sure princess, just sit on the floor and don’t move your head.” Artemis moved to sit on the edge of the bed, Persephone head between her knees and she started to mess with her friend’s hair.

After roughly half an hour both girls were ready and climbed in Persephone cars. They drove to the venue, blasting music as loud as possible and singing along. When they arrived plenty of people were already there but it still wasn’t too crowded. They made their way inside without any trouble thanks to the instructions Apollo had given to the bouncer.

Once inside they walked up to the bar and ordered drinks, surveying the crowd, looking for friends or potential conquests. They were soon joined by other girls Artemis had classes with, and since they were nice enough they got a table together and drank and chatted for a long time.

At some point, Apollo found them and informed them that he was about to go on stage so they “Better get in the front row and act like groupies” or he would not speak to them ever again. They both laughed at how dramatic this boy could be at times, but obliged. They really like his music anyway, so acting enthusiastic wasn’t too much of a bore.

They thrashed to the rhythm of the songs and sang at the top of their lungs so much, that by the end of the set they had broken their voices and were craving fresh air. Laughing and still on high from the mix of alcohol and adrenaline they stepped outside the club. There were a few people out, smoking talking and drinking, but the two girls didn’t really mix with them and stayed on their own.

After a few minutes, Artemis headed back inside, wanting to compliment her brother or something like that. Persephone hadn’t been paying attention to what her friend was saying, she revealed in the feeling of the fresh hair on her skin. She like California well enough but it always seemed too hot to her, almost artificial.

While she was standing, one leg propped on the wall behind her, her head tilted towards the sky and her eyes closed, she didn’t notice a dark figure looking her way. Not menacing in the slightest, just watching, from afar, almost weary to get too close… 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here you go! Hope you liked it! :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm very sorry this took so long! I had to deal with a lot and I got distracted and started writing other things... But here we are!  
> This one is longer than the previous two and I hope you'll enjoy it!!

“Haaa, fresh air does feel nice!” Persephone’s broken voice was full of laughter. She breathed in deeply.

“Yeah, I thought I was going to die at some point there…”  Artemis answered, rolling her eyes at her friend, “But you seemed to have so much fun I thought it was totally worth dying for!”

“You’re stupid! I love you!” Persephone hugged her friend and planted a kiss on her cheek. “Now, let us find some cigarettes!” And she bounced away in the direction of small groups of smokers.

She found guys willing to give her some smokes pretty easily, being a beautiful girl sure had its privileges! Artemis rolled her eyes at how she Persephone was playing the whole wide eyed innocent girl, she knew, maybe better than anyone else, this was very far removed from the truth of her best friend’s nature.

Persephone had always been like ambers, Artemis thought. Full of warmth and just waiting the right moment to bloom into a full fledge wild fire. There was something dangerous under her skin, a spark of insanity in her eyes. Artemis knew it wouldn’t take much to turn her into a beautiful hurricane, completely unstoppable. And she truly hoped that the day it happened there will be someone with her, to stop her from hurting herself with her own strength.

Artemis was also very aware that she might be developing a huge crush on her best friend. But that wasn’t something she was ready to dwell on, not right now. Not when Persephone was walking back to her with at least five cigarettes in her hand, and a twinkle in her eye saying trouble was on the way.

They spend the rest of the night drinking, smoking, laughing way too loud, dancing some more and just generally being idiots. Apollo had joined them sometimes after his set, and he helped keep the creepy guys away by shamelessly flirting with them, to the absolute delight of both girls.

They were eventually kicked out of the club in the early morning when it closed. But Persephone was having none of that, she insisted that the twins went back to her house with her and party some more.

Apollo being by far the soberest of the three drove them all back to her place where they casually raided Demeter’s liquor cabinet (it wasn’t as if she drank any of the alcohol she kept in the house anyways, so Persephone explained it was a good deed, stopping from going to waste!) and blasted music over the very fancy stereo (also barely in use when Demeter was around).

They finally all collapse in a pile of limbs and very drunk giggles on Persephone bed. Sure, the house had plenty of guest rooms waiting to be used but they were all to drunk to think of that and Persephone’s bed was very big anyways, so why bother?

The morning after was not especially pleasant. Artemis swore she had never felt this bad in her life, Apollo was still very drunk, and Persephone had almost totally lost her voice. They were a bit pathetic and to be honest, they sort of loved it, it was the testimony to a good night.

They ordered an inhuman quantity of junk food and spend the entire day watching stupid fantasy movies on Netflix.

At some point the twins had to leave, although they loved spending time at Persephone house, Monday was looming in and they needed to get home to be able to catch some well-deserved sleep before classes started again for the week to come.

As they said their good-byes Artemis reminded Persephone that next week’s anatomy class had been rescheduled to allow for a three-hour class instead of the two hours they would usually get.

Persephone said she remembered and told Artemis to take care of herself and call her if she ever wanted Acteon dead, Persephone would be more than happy to oblige!

With the twins gone the house felt too big again. She really hated this house. Like everything else in her life, it felt fake. She never felt truly at home there. It was her mother perfect idea of success, but to Persephone it just felt haunting. Maybe if they had a smaller house, that felt like a home, maybe then they could talk and fix some of their issues… But in this house, there was more than enough room for them to cohabit without really seeing each other, and it only added to the wedge between them.

Persephone knew that she could never truly have a normal relationship with her mother, but she still wished some days that they could at least try. Try to talk and listen to one another.

She sighed, turned around, put some music on, and stared cleaning the house. She’d better make sure any trace of junk food left the house before her mother came back. Or she would get lectured, once more, on how all this was going to kill her sooner than later. To be honest, she was quite ready to die from an overdose of pizza rather than swearing off carbs for ever, like her mother relentlessly suggested.

She cleaned the house entirely, did her laundry so that her mother wouldn’t find the clothes she wore to the club and lecture her on how a proper young lady should dress.

She also checked the huge calendar in the kitchen, the one where Demeter would write every important event to come, meaning the ones where she expected Persephone to attend with her and pose as the perfect daughter she was supposed to be. There was one this week, a fundraiser for the hospital.

‘Great’ she thought to herself, one more afternoon wasted pretending. One more afternoon spend playing a part she was less and less willing to play.

She hated those events, not only because she would have to dress up and act pretty, but because she would inevitably get hit on by men twice her age and then she’ll have to deal with her mother’s jealousy on the way back home. She didn’t want any of the attention but apparently Demeter was convinced that her daughter only mission in life was to steal away prospective husbands. Persephone would be more than willing to leave them all to her, but she figured they’d rather hit on a pretty twenty something girl than on a woman going on her forties and many resemblances to a dragon…

***

The week went back rather uneventfully, Persephone avoiding her mother more than usual, because every time they would cross paths Demeter would remind her about the fundraiser at the end of the week and tell her exactly how she expected her to behave.

The anatomy class didn’t even distract her. She had hoped they would do something new and exciting, but no, it was a three-hour class because it was required for med student to do an internship and the three hours were spend listening to many doctors presenting their ward and telling the student what they would expect of them during the internship period.

Persephone was not concerned by any of this. She wasn’t technically a med student and her course didn’t require an internship. But she sat there nonetheless, staring at the void for the most part.

She did find something that distracted her for a while at the beginning. She observed very closely Hades, turns out he must’ve hated, or at least disliked, many of his colleagues at the hospital. She couldn’t help but to notice the way he would slightly raise an eyebrow to some of the things they said, or how he would conceal a chuckle with a cough when they bolstered at their various, alleged, feat.

It was the first time she ever saw him display that many emotions. Granted she never really paid attention to him during class, but she had always thought of him as rather cold and somewhat bland. She now realised that maybe she was wrong.

But the fun ended when he had to excuse himself to go teach another class. She was then stuck for the better part of two hours in a stuffy amphitheatre with a hundred student, all bored out of their mind.    

Now she was in her room. Trying to decide what outfit she would wear to the fundraiser. It was tomorrow and picking something that would somewhat please her mother always took her ages. She would have like to have Artemis or Apollo helping her, but Artemis was stuck at the library, studying like crazy for an important test coming up, and Apollo was off somewhere rehearsing with his band. But it wasn’t as if Demeter would allow a boy to hang out with her at the house anyways…

She finally settled on a pastel pink floor-length skirt and a white blouse that had some discreet embroideries around the collar and along the sleeves.  She figured her mother couldn’t blame her of parading herself around in this outfit. She also picked a pair of white with floral design high-heeled sandals, apparently high heels were a prerequisite for this kind of function, which frankly seemed stupid seeing that those things were often hosted outside, most likely in a garden… 

She went to bed dreading the day to come. Hoping to god that she would find a distraction tomorrow. Not very likely, but she would never stop to hope for a miracle.

***

A miracle did not happen. Her mother was mad at her for some reason, something about how her make up was too light. Demeter might have been the only mother in the entire universe chastising her daughter for not wearing enough make up…

The ride to where the party was happening was spend in an awkward, although not unusual, silence. Persephone silently getting ready to face some kind of hell once they arrived, and Demeter surely coming up with various ways to humiliate her daughter when given the chance.

They pulled up to the garden of the hospital’s botanical garden, a very beautiful garden full of many gorgeous flowers… And a lot of very rich assholes on this beautiful day.

A massive had been installed on the grass to provide some shelter for the food and drinks, a good hundred people were walking around, talking and laughing too hard with this forced air rich people have when they think they need to prove that they’re having fun. Persephone was already sick of it. She hated the pretences around all of this.

“Right, so, I’ll need you to be on your very behaviour. I have clients here, and one or two prospects. So, well, behave yourself and don’t do anything crazy!” Demeter sounded a bit nervous and on the edge. She always did before things like that.

Persephone knew her mother was afraid that somehow all those people would one day realize she wasn’t one of them, that she was just a stupid cheerleader who got pregnant too young. Persephone found all that ridiculous, the way her mother fought to belong in this society? Why would anyone want this kind of life? It was beyond her.

But she still made her usual promise of behaving and being as perfect as possible.

They stepped out of the car and made their way towards the tent and the thick of the crowd. Demeter smiling and waving to countless people on the way. Persephone doing her best to smile genuinely and look to be happy to be here.

When the finally reached the tent, Persephone headed for the food, she hadn’t eaten yet and was starting to really feel hungry. Demeter stopped her before she could even get close to the food,

“What do you think you’re doing?” She whispered angrily, “Don’t touch the food, I can’t have my daughter stuffing her face in public, what would my clients think! Are you trying to ruin my reputation on purpose or are just this dumb!” Her voice was rising slightly but she still kept it under control, gritting the words while smiling in a way that was truly terrifying. It was in moments like that Persephone would get truly scared of her mother…

“Demeter! Darling!” A man voice boomed around them, Persephone actually flinching from the sheer volume of it.

Demeter’s face melted for a second before the fake smile was back on place, only gentler this time, the one she put on when she was interested in a man. She turned around an exclaimed, almost as loudly but on a higher pitch,

“Zeus! Ho darling! I hadn’t seen you there!” her voice so sweet a shiver ran down Persephone’s spine.

Demeter had entered full flirting mode, not paying attention to her, exchanging ‘darlings’ and ‘oh dears!’ with the man.

He was tall, quite muscular, but more in a ‘I used to play football in college and be very good at it’ way, not like some of the athletes her mother sometimes coached. He had golden brown hair and striking blue eyes. He was quite handsome in a way Persephone guessed. This wasn’t at all what she liked in a man, but she knew girls loved this kind of things usually. And if the looks he got from the female attendee and the way her mother was blushing at everything he said was any indication, she was right.

After what seemed hours of meaningless chitchat the Man, Zeus, turned towards her,

“And who might that be?” He had a smirk in his voice Persephone instantly ahted. She also knew that Demeter would give her hell for that.

“That, oh nothing… Well, my daughter, Persephone. Don’t mind her, she’s a bit of a child still…” Demeter’s eyes were throwing daggers in her directions, and her voice had climbed an octave or two, almost hysteric.

“Hello sir,” Persephone smiled slightly and looked at her feet, playing the stupid young girl part to almost perfection, “It’s very nice to meet you…”

“I can see you’ve taken after your mother in the looks department,” Zeus turned his attention to Demeter who was positively fuming now, “She’s as lovely, or dare I say, lovelier than her mother” He caught Persephone hand and kissed it lightly, winking at her.

Persephone was utterly mortified. Firstly, this guy could be her father age wise, second, her mother was going to kill her now because of that.

“Keep your hands to yourself pervert!” Another man chimed in, a joking undertone to his voice.

“Hmm.. Poseidon… Brother, I had not realized you’d be joining us today…” Zeus sounded slightly annoyed at the sudden appearance of his brother.

“I wouldn’t miss a chance to see my brothers for the world, plus I was in town, so I figured why not!” He clapped Zeus on the shoulder with probably more force than necessary, sending the other men staggering slightly.

Poseidon was slightly taller than his brother, he had long wavy hair, the same colour as his brother, and his Zeus eyes were beautiful, Poseidon’s were like the ocean. There was a depth to them Persephone felt herself get slightly dizzy looking into them.  She could see the resemblance in the built of the two brothers, but Poseidon looked more like an athlete than his brother, according to his shoulders Persephone would have guessed a swimmer. 

“Demeter, let me introduce to you my younger brother, Poseidon, you might have heard of him…”

“Oh my god yes, you’re the Olympic swimming champion! I’m Demeter, so pleased to meet you!”

“Enchanted myself! And if I heard correctly, this young lady here is your daughter?” Poseidon had moved right passed Demeter, ignoring her to grab Persephone’s hand and kiss it too.

“Ha… Yes… Persephone…” The ice was back in Demeter’s voice.

“Well, Persephone, Demeter, it is truly a pleasure to meet both of you” Poseidon didn’t let go of Persephone’s hand nor did he looked away, holding her gaze the whole time.

Persephone could sense her mother vibrating with anger behind Poseidon’s shoulder. She knew she had to come up with a way to divert the two men’s attention from her, but she really couldn’t think of anything right now…

“I… Hum… Very nice to meet you too?” Her voice came out a bit breathy and unsure, she could feel panic rising in her and her throat closing.

“Yes, absolutely delightful!” Demeter chimed in, taking Poseidon’s hand to shake it, and for once Persephone was grateful for her mother.

With Poseidon’s eyes no monger on her she could breath again. The encounter leaving her slightly dizzy and quite unsure of what to do next. She had expected the usual gross looking men hitting on her, but not two brothers that could have easily mistaken for gods…

“Oh, look who showed up too… My my… If this isn’t a full family reunion now…” Zeus narrowed his eyes at a dark lean figure coming toward them.

Poseidon turned to look at the newcomer, a grin of recognition splitting his face, “Aww our baby brother’s here too! Hades!! Hello!”

At this Persephone lost the capacity to breath again. Hades. As in Professor H, Hades? Oh god, if he hinted that he knew her from his classes her mother would end her right this instant, and there was nothing she could do about it. She was truly fucked.

“Zeus, Poseidon…” His voice was deep, and a bit raspy, Persephone didn’t remembered his voice being like that, but then, she never really paid attention, she was always more focused on the corpse in front of her…

“Brother, may I introduce to you Demeter, she’s a very good friend of mine, and her lovely daughter, Persephone…” Zeus introduced them.

“A friend hm… I wonder how Hera takes that…” Hades hadn’t looked at her or her mother yet, Persephone was still trying to figure a way out of this.

“Hera?” Demeter spoke up, her voice a bit cold.

“Ah, yes… My wife… She’s not here today thought… Or I would have introduced you…” Zeus looked a bit uncomfortable.

“Oh… I didn’t realize you were married” Demeter’s face fell slightly, deception lacing her voice.

“Don’t worry, darling…” Zeus trailed off, shooting a cold glance at his brother.

“But I forget my manners, I’m Hades, I’m a professor at the Medicine Faculty…” His voice trailed of when he finally looked at both women. A spark of recognition in his eyes when his gaze landed on Persephone.

She was holding her breath and looked like a deer caught in headlights. She mustered a quick nod at his attention, hoping that he would understand that she’d rather appreciate if he didn’t disclose that he knew her.

“Oh, my daughter studies Herbology, maybe you have seen her around campus” Demeter chimed in, a perfect smile back on her face.

“Maybe…”

And with that Zeus and Poseidon started bickering again and Demeter laughed too much at their jokes. Persephone saw this as the perfect opportunity to slip away and find refuge somewhere else, preferably far away from the three brothers and her mother.

She managed to keep to herself for an hour or so. Smiling politely to every client of her mother she encountered and making the very bare minimum of small talk. Until she found refuge at the back of the tent. The crowd was getting louder and louder as the guests were getting more and more drunk, and she could really use some time in a quieter place.

She had also managed to get some food, without her mother noticing, so she was now eating in relative peace.

“Hello again...” The deep voice made her jump slightly.

She turned around and hades was standing inches from her, how he could have sneaked on her without making any noise a complete mystery to her.

“Oh, hum, hello professor…” Her voice unsure and a bit too high pitched.

“So, you’re studying Herbology? Funny, I could have sworn I saw you at everyone of my anatomy classes… You’re quite good with a scalpel too…” He raised an eyebrow and looked a bit amused.

“Hum… Well… I…” She had no clue what to say. Was he gonna be mad at her for lying? Even though he never asked her what she was doing in his class, so technically she had never lied to him. “Yes… I’m an Herbology major, but I have a friend In your class and she told me it was okay if I joined and well, you never said anything so…”

“Oh no, don’t worry it’s fine!” He looked a bit taken aback, “Didn’t meant to scare you! It’s just… Herbology? Really? Is that even a subject that’s taught at our university?” He crooked his head slightly, seemingly puzzled as to why anyone would choose such a subject to study.

“Well, yes, they do teach it… and my mother, Demeter, she wanted me to study that?” She was a little bit ashamed to admit that, fully aware that she was in fact a grown woman and should be able to make her decisions for herself. But it was always hard to explain to others how her mother controlled as many aspects of her life as possible.

“Yes… she seems like, quite the woman, your mother…”

“Yes, you could say she is…”

“Oh, do you want something to drink? I think this is champagne… But I don’t know if you’re underage…”

Persephone grabbed the flute her offered her, “Yes! Thank you!” She took a large gulp, alcohol being exactly what she needed right now. “And hum… Technically I am underage…. For at least two more weeks, but if we don’t tell my mother it should be fine…” She chuckled softly before drinking another sip.

“I won’t say anything then, as silent as a tomb!” Hades winked at her, “Cheers!” and he clinked both their glasses before taking a sip himself.

Persephone could feel herself relax a bit. Hades seemed truly like a nice guy. Very different from his loud brothers… Although she could see some similarities, especially the way he carried himself, and his height. But as opposed to his brother he had completely black hair, and eyes that seemed even darker. But like the other two, there was something in his eyes, something that made her breath catch in her throat. What was it with this family and eyes?!?

They spoke for a while, talking about nothing mostly. But then Hades came back on the subject of her studies.

“So, if you’re an Herbology major, are you supposed to have an internship?”

“Well, no… I mean, it’s not required, but I guess I could still do one if I wanted….”

“Oh… Ok… Because you must be the best student I’ve ever had, and I actually thought of offering you a position at the morgue, helping me with autopsy and things like that…”

“Wait? Really?” Persephone was grinning, “But, I thought you never took interns?” her brows crunched in confusion.

“Well, I don’t… Usually… But as I said, you’re the best student I’ve ever had, and it gets a bit lonely sometimes, so some company would be welcome?” He looked soft and hopeful.

“I… Hum…” She tripped over her words, not really knowing how to react to that. She new at least a dozen student that would have killed for an offer to spend more time alone with the professor, but all she could think about right now was the endless possibilities of dissections this could offer. “Yeah… I mean, yes, of course! I would love to!”

“Great!”

“Oh wait… My… My mother… she doesn’t know that I take your class? And I really don’t see how she would allow me to work with you…” Deception painted all of her face, Persephone cursed internally, her mother would really always take what she wanted away from her.

“I supposed we don’t have to tell her?” Hades was looking at her like he knew how heart broken she was to have to refuse the offer over something like that.

“Yes, but I mean, how am I going to explain spending hours at the hospital every week? I mean, I can attend your classes because it’s the same campus, and I’m still top five of my class in Herbology so she never suspects anything is wrong… But this… I don’t know if I could pull this off…” Persephone could feel tear of anger rising in her eyes.

She was so mad at Demeter. All her life, she had done everything her mother wanted her to, and now that she had an opportunity to do something for herself, something that would make her happy, she had to turn down the offer because she feared her mother’s reaction too much. She felt weak and powerless. She felt like a kid, and she hated it.

“No, don’t, hum, don’t cry!” Hades started panicking a bit, “I can make it work! I can make it look like you’re doing an herbology internship at the hospital! Please don’t cry! I didn’t mean to upset you I’m so sorry!” He was fussing around her, actually brushing away a tear on he cheek.

“What?” Persephone sniffled, “An herbology internship? At the hospital? Do they even have a ward where herbology would be relevant at?” She smiled sadly, she also couldn’t help but lean slightly in his touch, but he soon retracted his hand, and she instantly missed the feeling for some reason.

“Hum… I… I don’t actually know that… But, I’m pretty sure I can arrange something” he looked like he was pretty much ready to do anything if that meant she would stop being sad. Persephone could feel her heart missing a beat at that realisation. How long had it been since someone that wasn’t Artemis or Apollo had been willing to do that for her? She simply believed it had never happened.

“And how would you do that exactly” She chuckle a bit, Hades truly was endearing. Nothing like the cold scientist she was used to as her professor.

“Well, let’s just say that being the brother of the President of the hospital has his perks!” his grin was back, and Persephone realized she really liked that grin, he looked like a kid who just misbehaved, but knew that the fun he had was worth the risk.

“Wait, what?”

“Zeus… Hum, he’s, he’s the president of the hospital… So, I’m pretty sure I can get him to help me on this one… actually, I just got an idea, wait here okay?” And with that he took off, shoving his now empty flute of champagne in her hands.

And like that Persephone was left alone, holding to empty glasses, still very confused as to what exactly just happened. She took advantage of the moment of calm to fully brush away the few tears left in her eyes, and to collect herself.

‘deep breath, everything is fine, Demeter isn’t going to find out. You’ll be fine’

She shook her head and brushed back a few strands of hair. Yeah, this might just work. If she was lucky…

Just as she was starting to lose hope Hades walked back to her. He was holding two full glasses and looked very pleased with himself.

“Well, I suggest a toast is in order no, to my new intern!” He handed her a glass and smiled.

“How exactly did you pull this off?” She raised an eyebrow while taking the glass.

“Might have suggested that I could let something slip to Hera about Demeter… and how she would certainly poorly react, if he were to refuse helping me on this…” He was positively smug right now.

“Wow… okay” Persephone shook her head slightly, still not completely believing that this was actually happening.

“To my new intern then!”

“To your new intern!”

The clinked their glasses, and Persephone could have sworn that champagne never tasted better.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... Yeah... They talked!! not gonna lie, I kinda made myself cry writing this so yeah...  
> Also, I'll try to update soon...ish... Like, I'm not making any promises here but I got back to writing so i'm going to try to keep doing that!   
> And even if I take adges to update don't despair, I'm not giving up! Ever!
> 
> Comments and kudos are always more than apreciated!
> 
> Come say hello on Twitter !!

**Author's Note:**

> Here you go! I'll try to update often but i can't really make any promisses with college and everything....  
> As usual kudos and feedback are more than welcome!


End file.
